IT ALL EVENS OUT IN THE END....
WITHIN seconds of the final whistle last night, my mobile phone was bleeping incessantly with text messages form irate football fans.
"You jammy gets!", screamed one. "That's just sick!"
Another message that was fired through bodly declared: "That penalty was a joke. Lucky, lucky, lucky, Liverpool!"
The first missive was from a Blue, the second a Red, I can inform you.
Maybe it was natural of me to go onto the defensive, but my instant reaction was to rebuff both statements as being wide of the mark.
I still stand by that view in the cold light of day this morning.
So to the penalty decision. It was certainly soft. But a skilled barrister could possibly make a reasonable case.
Gerrard certainly gets to the balls first, it was an ill-advised challenge by their defender, and he bundles into the captain's back.
None of that is disputed. Whether it was enough for Gerrard to drop is another matter, but it certainly wasn't a challenge that played the ball.
As Stevie rightly pointed out in interview. That sort of challenge is regularly punished as a free kick outside the box, so why should it be anything different inside the box?
Defenders should use a bit of nouse. But it was certainly a home crowd decision.
Furthermore, the penalty award seemed justice for a frustrating night in which we probably did just enough to edge the win.
We were denied a clear pen when one of their admirable back four handled the ball (shades of Papa Biop) and there was another shout for a spot kick in the first minute when Agger went down while shooting.
The latter seemed to be a shout too far. The first was clear-cut.
So in terms of fairness, we deserved the last-gasp 12 yarder.
My Evertonian friend went on to bemoan the fact that 'we always seen to get the luck when we need it.'
Again I disagree.
I've acknoweldged in last weekend's blog that our luck was due to run against Spurs after we'd had the rub a few times so far this season.
But I'm a firm believer it all evens out in the end.
Like I say, for the last-minute pen last night, I give you the blatant handball the ref missed.
For our deflected winner v Chelsea, I give you the ref cancelling out Gerrard's free-kick against Stoke that would have furnished us with two more points.
You could even make an argument for Keane being brought down by Reo Coker at Villa Park when he was through on goal to turn a 0-0 into an invaluable away win (the incident was very borderline though)
The point is, you get one fortunate decision, you lose out on another.
People wrongly argue we've had luck against Man City, Wigan and Middlesborough this season.
I don't see how. Does enterprise and fighting until the end constitute luck these days?
Does the fact that Zaki's goals were scored within 60 minutes against us make his strikes more worthy than Riera's and Kuyt's in the last 10?
Of course not.
Were we already pulverising Man City before Zabeletta decided to plant his studs on Alonso's leg?
Yes.
Football is about 95 minutes these days. Sometimes you get the breaks. In Madrid, they had a goal wrongly chalked off for offisde.
So did Benayoun. Not as blatant. But Yossi was still onside.
Are the papers shouting about Lewis Hamilton's luck in winning the world title on the last bend of the last lap?
Are they calling him a lucky driver because Glock was an slicks at a time when the rain was coming down?
No. He's rightly hailed for holding his nerve, some great last gasp driving and crucial decision making.
I'll say it for the last time. It all evens out in the end. You win some, you lose some.....
It was a display of plenty of huff and puff, but a lack of guile that was needed to open up an obdurate Athletico rearguard.
The fact that Daniel Agger was our best attacker probably said it all. He should have scored four.
Two headers and two point-blank shots.
There was a lot of effort, but that extra class was needed to carve holes in their defence, and we just didn't have that.
Alonso stood out by a mile as our best player. What a joy it is to have Xabi with the bit between his teeth, smashing into tackles and wanting the ball to drive forward. An excellent display.
And for all Kuyt's, Gerrard's and Riera's application, it didn't happen for them last night.
The Keane scenario is a lot more worrying.
I think Rafa hardly does the Irishman favours by playing him as a lone striker. Even given good support from Gerrard and Kuyt, he needs a mate.
And there seemed something to read into the striker's withdrawal on 70 minutes. The former Spurs man seemed lively and was linking well with people like Gerrard.
To bring on a young French kid, who showed palpable signs of nerves and got the ball tangled up in his feet twice in good situations seemed the wrong move.
It was almost like Benitez was sending Keane a message that what he was serving up was not good enough.
Sure, he had missed a golden chance in the first half when he chose to round the keeper instead of shooting.
But he still looked a threat. If he's already starting to lose the faith of the manager, it's worrying times for the £20m man.
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spot on, moaning evertonians. watch us and moan.
we are lacking cutting edge...still. we should be able to cope with torres being out.
why do we still play one upfront at home. five in midfield is too many.
we have a problem. xabi is crap sititng, without him we have no tempo and can't pass. gerrard must play but is a centr mid, bot a striker. and masch must play to give back four protection.
the result? one up from isolated. i pity robbie
full backs still a problem. dont offer much going forward. thats where we need to invest.
too much reliance on derek on the right. why cant we play him u front when he's in good form? him and keane up top.
gives yossi a chance on the right, or even babel. or god forbid pennant.
no woder their defence looked good when they had just keane to look after
all bout the result lids!
Got to out myself as the blue responsible for the irate texts.
Honest reds like Luke know, deep down, that was never a penalty.
But would I be moaning if the same had happened to us? Of course not.
It's just a shame that Gerrard and Benitez did not have the grace to be honest after the event and instead maintained their ludicrous stance that it was a spot kick. They did the credibility of professionals no favours.
I thought the Atletico players were on the brink of walking off immediately afterwards and couldn't have blamed them.
spot on about the luck thing Luke; the worry for me is the usual 'talksport' Gerrards a cheat campaign!
could it be that the stray horse in the 2 horse race is upsetting these guys? as for the toffs, maybe Moysey will make a DVD to send to UEFA
greg,
wouldn't have blamed athletico if they walked off?
surely a massive overreaction? bring the game into disrepute that surely?!
should the reds have walked off when malouda conned styles into giving a pen at anfield last season?
bad decisions are part of the game. always have been.
liverpool have been on the receivng end of decisons that gerrard got last night.
i suggest we tend to get the rub of the green as we tend to exert more pressure on sides than sides like yourself.
Britain has produced some of the finest actors in the world, but its footballers' thespian talents are something else entirely.
The way Stevie G went down in-the-box with a screwed up face, like he'd been picked off by a sniper in the stands, was pure school play.
greg,
wouldn't have blamed athletico if they walked off?
surely a massive overreaction? bring the game into disrepute that surely?!
should the reds have walked off when malouda conned styles into giving a pen at anfield last season?
bad decisions are part of the game. always have been.
liverpool have been on the receivng end of decisons that gerrard got last night.
i suggest we tend to get the rub of the green as we tend to exert more pressure on sides than sides like yourself.
hypocrisy...who said this?
"It annoys me. I don't think there is anything worse than seeing not just a foreign player but any player who has received a knock lying down on the floor to get an opponent booked - or diving when no one's been anywhere near him, If I saw a team-mate doing it I would definitely have a word. It's happened here at Liverpool a couple of times, where players have gone down too easily, and the manager has said: 'Get up, get on with it, don't be doing that. It's wrong'"
"I think managers and captains, leaders and experienced players have a responsibility to grab people after a training session or a game and say 'None of that. That doesn't happen here'."
hypocrisy - who said this?
"It annoys me. I don't think there is anything worse than seeing not just a foreign player but any player who has received a knock lying down on the floor to get an opponent booked - or diving when no one's been anywhere near him, If I saw a team-mate doing it I would definitely have a word. It's happened here at Liverpool a couple of times, where players have gone down too easily, and the manager has said: 'Get up, get on with it, don't be doing that. It's wrong'"
"I think managers and captains, leaders and experienced players have a responsibility to grab people after a training session or a game and say 'None of that. That doesn't happen here'."
I get so annoyed with the standard "blame the full backs - they're rubbish" response that is frequently appearing. I strongly urge people to actually watch Arbeloa play and I think you'll be pleased to see a player who has improved immeasurably since last season, who is mostly solid at the back and working hard to get forward. He did a good job last night of starting attacks and putting decent crosses in, even though Kuyt wasn't having his best game. The fullbacks weren't to blame last night and the wingers infront of them had much worse games.
It's not about getting a fortunate decision though, it's about cheating. Liverpool were fortunate the ref bought Gerrard's dive, but if he hadn't gone down there would have been no decision to make.
The key point is that it's hardly his first offence either. I seem to recall one in an England match where there was no contact whatsoever and he did the whole stick-your-boot-in-the-turf routine. It saddens me that arguably the best English player of his generation feels he's got to stoop to cheating.
It also annoys me when commentators go on about 'contact' justifying poor refereeing decisions. Since when did football become a non-contact sport?
jon,
its not cheating though mate. he didnt cheat. he was bumped over. it probably didnt warrant a pen, but he didnt dive. he got a knock and his momentum took him down
yes, he wasn't unhappy to go down, but he didnt dive.
it probably happens to gerrard more than most as he attacks with such momentum that a knock is likely to send him sprawling.
Forget Tom Daley, Gerrard's da man!
It's not the fact that he fell over I've got a problem with, it's the theatrical arm waving and grimacing face. Let me put it another way, would Robbie Fowler have gone down in the same manner?
would owen? yes. would ronaldo yes? would lampard? yes.
makes me laugh that gerardr lambasted for falling over after being shoved, small shove or not.
the ref seems to have got off scott free. he was the one who suddenyl decided that any sort of contact should be a spot kick.
he's the villain here.
But wouldn't it be better if Gerrard could rise above them? I would be happy to lambast any of the above and would probably slag them off for other things too, but I want better from Gerrard as Liverpool captain.
Robbie's sporting qualities and sense of social justice set him apart from the rest (as well as the genius in front of goal). It's fairly obvious I'm not a Liverpool fan, but I don't think any of my Red mates have the same affection for Gerrard, despite his continued brilliance on the pitch.
i dont think gerrard is after your affection. just to be a winner.
the game is so massive that its win at all costs.
i would argue is an exceptional case. the arsenal incident when he tried to get the ref to not give the pen, was a rarity.
you're castigating gerrard for something everyone does.
and we;re still forgeting, he was actually fouled. albeit not comprehensively.
a player in the 95th min in a must result game gets shoved in the penalty area...
who wouldnt go down?
Another good post - I thougt Gerrard was very poor last night actually. His passingw a soff and his 'shoot on sight' policy is becoming worrying - its almost as if he feels he has to live up to the ITV taglines on European nights. Quite a few times he tried ambitious shots when there were team-mates much better placed. He went down easily for the pen but it was still a foul. Just like Defenders pulling strikers at corners is a foul and should always be a pen but rarely is - just because most refs choose to 'ignore' such fouls doesn't mena they are not legitimate penatlies, just that refs lack the backbone to properly enforce the laws of the game.
As for Keane, I'm really starting to fear taht my earlier posts were spot on.
Like Greg, want to out myself as the armchair red responsible for the lucky lucky Liverpol texts. For me, it was a professional way to get a pen. Technically it may have been a pen although outside the box if the roles had been reversed, I believe Liverpool fans would have been midly aggreived at a Madrid player going down like that.
Perhaps at the end of it all, it comes down to what Jon and Scotty said. Do you want Gerrard to rise above that kind of baseness for the sake of the (not so) beautiful game (any more) or do you want the win that badly not what what the cost?
dom,
ahh, it's feisty!
Got a great little portable TV in me burger van to watch The Redg!
Mark, someone told me you've never been able to have a decent mass debate and this is no exception!